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I saw this last week, when Bob Doran posted it on Facebook. I thought the article was well-written, and I appreciated the nod to our local restaurant, Cecil’s. Much of the article was not quite “on the mark”, but I still thought it was well-written, and entertaining… (which I assume it was meant to be, as it was a travel piece, and not “breaking news”)

One evening, I dined at Cecil’s, the fanciest restaurant in Garberville, whose unusual market will apparently bear a steak topped with crab meat, shrimp and handpicked chanterelles for $72. I didn’t get the steak. I got fried oysters remoulade and some smoked pork spring rolls I’d have eaten my weight in. While I was making my way through a superb fried chicken salad, a group of college-age kids took a table near mine. They wore camouflage hats and long-underwear shirts and looked like they’d been working hard all day. They got the steak.

He should have ordered the spicy penne with crayfish. The sauce is to die for.

I’ve had that penne, and you’re right, it’s great! As is the gumbo, the “oyster-tini”, and many dishes I’ve tried there. When we have out of town guests, we always take them to either Cecil’s, or Mateel Cafe.

At Cecil’s I often have the gumbo, which is not like my mother’s gumbo, but quite good just the same. A very good meal can be made up from the small plate menu and I don’t think I’ve ever had anything really bad there. I’m not sure about the $72 steak being on the menu, however.

Or maybe the author exaggerated the price for his New York readers to make the young diners in camo who looked like they’d been working hard all day (which seems to me –between the lines– to mean “growers”) seem more wealthy and decadent, flopping down to eat something so expensive after their day in the pot business.

With 1.4 million subscribers and the magazine available in 53,000 retail outlets, the article was a major push forward introducing Humboldt and its gloriously wacky wonders to the nation, whether one likes it or not.

The East Coast just met the North Coast. If it wasn’t well known enough before, SoHum and Humboldt County certainly are the buzzwords of the day for the Big Apple– and everywhere in between.

Cecil’s fine food garnished with chantrelles and elves are equally famous, too, no doubt. What’s next? I’m sure Guy Fieri will be coming by soon to check it all out.